Poetic Last Days, March

It's that time again, when a little poetry comes to the aid of the heart that seeks to meditate and pray. May God bless your Lenten journey. 

The Chalice at His Side

Cracked and dry am I,

Shriveling in this air.

Empty inside for I

Did not want to share.

What irony I find,

That given this fine wine,

Harbored within myself,

A bitter and toxic mind.

Was I to pour it out,

To waste such potency?

Why give it away,

When it was given to me?

Something more to this wine,

Potent at a cost.

The fullness of its sweetness,

Was premised on the loss.

Freely given to be given away,

Pungent as it flows,

Richness seen as n'er before,

Delight only the Lover knows.

Remain with me, I cry,

Not wanting to lose this wine,

Sustain me, O, I pray,

To last yet one more day.

Yet shriveled and sick am I,

Barren inside and dry,

What remains is only the muck, 

Of one who would not love.

Deeper I must delve down,

Within the depths of me,

To seek and hunt for the source,

Of that sweet and holy Spring.

Dig and work and crawl,

Find the clay below,

Until my hands are wet again,

And the Wine once more will flow.

And now I understand,

What I could not see before,

Only in the pouring out,

Where the rich is made poor.

There in the giving of all I have,

There in the emptying out,

The wonder of the Life remains,

The Light does not go out.

O, Sweet Wine, had I but known,

Would that I have seen.

Only in giving what I have now,

Am I truly the one who receives.

Remain with me, I cry,

Sustain me, O, I pray,

Do not hold back all that you are,

I will give it all away.

Flow through me now, O Sweet Wine,

I will not hinder you.

This heart beats once again,

This soul is fresh and new.

The dryness has been swallowed up,

The emptiness is filled,

My cup overflows in generous Love,

My restless spirit stilled. 

What kind of Love is this, I ponder,

That only in giving is known?

What miracle is present here,

Grapes crushed as seeds are sown.

That Well within springs from your Side,

This Wine comes without cost,

Let me give it freely with all I am,

That true Life may not be lost.

"Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners...No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." (Matt. 9:13, 16-17)

"I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts." (Ezekiel 36:25-26)

Desert Solitude

My dear friends.


Thank you for your patience. The number of things I cannot wait to write on (and yet, have been forced to wait to write on) will soon enough be flowing forth from my itching fingers. However, the last round of comprehensive exams is upon me, and so the month of March has been devoted to relearning all that I've learned. 


So for your great delight and pleasure, I am honored to share a reflection written by my boyfriend that I believe is very true to form with the nature of this blog and also a wonderful Lenten reflection. 





The soul that rejects God's love fissures like the veins of an arid desert.

It is in the solitude of the desert that man learns to survive on his own. Left only to his instincts, he learns to become self-sufficient in this harsh world. He becomes primal. He lives off of the land and develops mechanisms to adapt to the rugged terrain. He hardens his skin and his heart so as to protect himself. His world without God is treacherous and any vulnerability to love can be attacked by the beasts that prey about him. They search as a lion in the night for him. They know him better than he himself, and they exploit and rape his conscience. As a sculptor takes to the rock, they begin fashioning an image and likeness of themselves within the man. There's immense gratification in breaking the sanctification of man, and they feast on his soul as ravenous birds.

But with no warning, the storm clouds quicken and the sky becomes as black as sack cloth. Thunder rolls and the beasts flee from the promise of Rain. The man cannot prepare for the inevitable outpouring of Grace that is to come. Lightning rips through the sky and the downpour commences. As the desert terrain swells with living water, so too does the soul flood with the flowing mercies from God. It rushes in a torrent and carries the life of the man away in the darkness.

The life that once was lived is now lost.

Awakening he sees Light about him. The stark landscape has transformed into an alien planet of colors and beauty. Wandering from plant to tree, he breathes in the fruits of God's grace and weeps from joy.

As the desert is primal in nature, so too is the soul of the man. To survive is possible, but he surely cannot thrive in this desolate wasteland alone. Inspired by this, the man ventures forth into the desert in search of beauty, love, and grace. Living from storm to storm, he prays and hopes that he finds his paradise.

He knows now that there is something greater beneath the surface of all things and that all of creation yearns for living water.


May the Lord guide and protect us always. "May your kindness, LORD, be upon us; we have put our hope in you." (Psalm 33:22)

Poetic Last Days, February

Seems that I might consider renaming the poetry series "Poetic First Days," since my timing seems to miss the mark each month!

Here's a little fun from the great Gilbert Keith (G.K) Chesterton:

A Prayer in Darkness

This much, O heaven—if I should brood or rave,
Pity me not; but let the world be fed,
Yea, in my madness if I strike me dead,
Heed you the grass that grows upon my grave.

If I dare snarl between this sun and sod,
Whimper and clamour, give me grace to own,
In sun and rain and fruit in season shown,
The shining silence of the scorn of God.

Thank God the stars are set beyond my power,
If I must travail in a night of wrath,
Thank God my tears will never vex a moth,
Nor any curse of mine cut down a flower.

Men say the sun was darkened: yet I had
Thought it beat brightly, even on—Calvary:
And He that hung upon the Torturing Tree
Heard all the crickets singing, and was glad

Ark of the Covenant

I have not developed much thought on this blog concerning Our Blessed Mother; this is both because I feel she is so worthy a topic that I feel whatever I say shall be inadequate, and also because there will always be more to say of the one who is Virgin Mother of God and Mother of the Church.

Many saints have devoted their entire lives to her honor, seeking to better understand the mysterious graces granted to this little girl who gave her total "fiat" to the angel Gabriel and became the Mother of Christ through the Holy Spirit. St. Louis de Montfort, perhaps one of the better known, wrote many beautiful things in his small book "True Devotion to Mary."
(If you would like to read it, the entire work in available online, here: http://www.ewtn.com/library/montfort/truedevo.htm)

St. Alphonsus Ligouri also had a great love for Our Lady and wrote "The Glories of Mary" (which I have not yet read, but intend to): http://www.ewtn.com/library/montfort/truedevo.htm.

You of course have the many saints who were blessed to actually see Our Lady, such as St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France, St. Juan Diego in Guadalupe, Mexico, and Venerable Sr. Maria Lucia and Bls Francisco and Jacinta Marto in Fatima, Portugal.

I do not have the time to list here any form of proper record of the early Church Fathers and their love for Our Lady, but St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Irenaeus, and many others wrote beautiful and profound things concerning her privileges and the honors given to her by God. Here's a short summary page from Dr. Mark Miravalle: http://www.piercedhearts.org/hearts_jesus_mary/heart_mary/mary_early_church_miravalle.htm

Surely we cannot ignore the beautiful documents of Church history given by our Magisterium in regards to the Blessed Mother, most recently in the document of the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium. A brief overview of the Doctrines on Mary can be found here: http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/marya1.htm

Therefore, the point is that my reflections are more from personal love of my Mother than they are meant to be in the form of teaching.

First, I would like to list the Ten Virtues of Mary as explained by St. Louis de Montfort in True Devotion. (In alphabetical order for easy memorizing, they go as follows:)

Angelic Sweetness
Ardent Charity
Blind Obedience
Constant Mental Prayer
Divine Purity
Divine Wisdom
Heroic Patience
Lively Faith
Profound Humility
Universal Mortification

These virtues are wonderful topics of meditation and contemplation in our journey to holiness, and how we might better come to know the Heart of Christ through the Heart of His Mother.

Other aspects of honor for Our Lady include the many titles that have been attributed to her throughout Church history, especially considering her typifying of the Church as Bride of Christ and the many analogies drawn of her as New Eve, spiritual Mother of us all, the Body of Christ even as the Church is Body, etc...

One of my favorite titles within the Tradition is "Ark of the Covenant."
St. Louis de Montfort uses this title in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin in his preparation for Total Consecration to the Immaculate Heart.

To really consider this title properly, we must reach back into the Old Testament and seek to understand how the Ark of the Covenant was understood. We do not have time for much exegesis here, but suffice it to say that the Ark was the visible sign among the Israelite people of God's presence with them, the Holy place where the Glory of the Lord dwelled.

The Ark therefore is a sign and symbol as well as a reality. In some ways one can see the Ark as a prefigurement for the Church, for the Tabernacle where God will remain with us, in Christ's very Flesh. Likewise, the analogy is not hard to understand in light of the Mother of Jesus. She who bears Christ within herself, within her womb, is much like the Ark of the Old Testament. Within her is the Glory of God, is God Himself. She bears Him to the world, carrying Him within her holy temple. The language of the human body as a temple is not a stretch for Biblical theology as St. Paul reminds us: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body" (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Therefore, if the body is a place where the Holy Spirit dwells with us, and likewise the same place where we meet God in the Flesh and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, certainly it can be said that the Mother of Jesus was the temple within which He dwelt for nine months! Moreover, as the Holy Spirit "came upon" Mary when she conceived Jesus, He remains with her, and she is Spouse of the Spirit in a unique way. So as we all are temples of the Holy Spirit, in an honored fashion, Mary is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

I could go on, but there is much to think about in those short thoughts.

I want to end with a prayer from the Preparation for Total Consecration which St. Louis de Montfort includes. I cannot help but think of Our Mother's title as "Ark of the Covenant" whenever I read this:

O, Jesus Living in Mary
Come and live in Thy servants,
In the spirit of Thy holiness,
In the fullness of Thy might,
In the truth of Thy virtues,
In the perfection of Thy ways,
In the communion of Thy mysteries,
Subdue every hostile power
In Thy spirit, for the glory of the Father.
Amen.

Let us pray that like Our Lady, we will come to know the heart of Christ in a special way through the intimate time spent with him in prayer and contemplation and through the mysteries of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Let us also ask the Holy Spirit to come upon us and form us into His very likeness, that we can always be living temples and witnesses of God's love.

Beauty

Hmm. There it is. There he is. There she is.
You can't really help yourself, you must keep looking.
You understand what it means to be held captive, to be riveted, to be spellbound.
The colors, the movements, the shape, the lines, the sound, the fabric, the many facets that are remarkable to your senses - they all collide and converge to trap you, right there, as you are, and you are helpless to be free.
Moreover, you have no desire to be free. No, you are a happy and willing captive, for the conquerer is living within your own heart.

This, my friends, is what I believe we experience when we encounter the beautiful.

Please, allow me to preface with the usual form of disclaimer: I am NOT Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger, Karol Wojtyla or any other person of consequence who has something to say about beauty.
That being said, I do have eyes, ears, a nose, a mouth, fingers, and a heart, and I do live in this world.
That does not make me an expert, but it does give me all the cause in the world to speak of the beautiful, for it is all around us and taken up in the world.

Some questions, pehaps, ought to be considered.
What is beauty?
What is "objectively beautiful"?
Is there such a thing?
Is beauty truly in the "eye of the beholder," or is there something more to this idea?
Is beauty simply an idea, or is it some type of reality?

Now, to be fair, I don't think these questions can be fully treated on this blog. However, I want them to be present in your mind when we speak of "beauty" because I believe the answers to be fundamental to our understanding of this concept and this reality.
To begin with, I would say that there is indeed an objective beauty, or at least an objective way to define what is beautiful. I mean "objective" here as "true" or "inherent" or "real." I would also say that our individual affinities and what we find familiar certainly do affect what is beautiful to each person, so that there is of course the subjective sense of beauty as well. However, I would also argue that overall, the objective truth of something beautiful is prior to, or has priority over, what is found subjectively beautiful. And I believe beauty is both an idea and a reality. This is because, above all else, beauty is personal. As something which is both an idea and a reality, beauty is something that we encounter. It is both the tangible reality which we see or feel or know in some way through our senses and the draw and desire that takes hold within us and makes its home in our mind and heart.

Consider something that you do find beautiful, whether it be a seashell or a woman or a symphony, etc... What is it that moves you? That captures you? Do you walk over to the orchestra and say, "you are beautiful!" before they have begun to play? Or is it rather that once the music reaches you and you enounter the movements, then you know it to be beautiful. To say that something like an idea is personal is to personify it in some sense. It is different than the personification of a spoon or some inanimate object, because this personality is more specific to the relation it has with you.

Perhaps I am drawn more to dark hair and you to light hair, as far as what we find beautiful or attractive. Both can be said to be good. Yet one reaches into my heart in a different way than it does to yours. What is important is that both of us can be aware that there is something outside of us or beyond us that is drawing us to it. What is also important is that we recognize that although our responses to this object are different based on the subjective desires we have, the goodness of the thing itself is the starting point and presence of the beauty that is inherent in the object.

It is vital that what is beautiful is good, because what is beautiful is something that displays "what it is meant to be," and fulfills to some extent the goodness that was always present within it. For example, let us take a table. I have a little side table in the living room which was made rather simply, out of something close to cardstock, and because it was made without real wood, it has little appeal as something of beauty. However, I also have a little side table in my bedroom, and this table is made out of wood. You can see the pattern of the wood throughout the table, and it has been stained so that there is a rich color to it. Both of these tables serve the same purpose. Yet one seems to "be" more of what a side table "ought to be," while the other seems to display little value in the sense of fulfilling its potential.

Another example could be when something is old or broken. When placed next to a new version, the object will typically show how limited it is in revealing what it was meant to be, and the fullness of its particular potential. Now, this must be qualified both in terms of what attracts an individual and in terms of what we mean by potential. For example, I may have a strong affinity for old and comfortable things, and find them most comforting and desirable when they are worn in and remind me of home. Therefore, an old couch might actually seemt to fulfill its "goodness" to me over and above a new one, because a couch is meant to be sat on and used. Yet, another could argue that the new couch is beautiful while the old one is threadbare and ugly.

So we cannot outright define something as "beautiful" simply if it is the "best it can be," but of course we can understand how there is some truth in the point.

We also need to consider what attraction or affinity mean. To be drawn to something means to recognize a good that we believe would be good for us, such as something that would make us happy, improve us, or be helpful. However, the highest attraction to things is when we can see the good in them for themselves, or of themselves, rather than something for us. In this case, we want to be with it or in it or participate with it - not only because it will make us happy (although that will probably be a nice side-effect), but simply because it is a good in and of itself. For instance, when the sunlight shines into a room and we can see all the dust particles in the air. Children will often try to catch them or at least stand in the sun to be part of this "magical" phenomenon. This is not because the child thinks that they are going to be able to hold onto the particles or that this experience is going to make them happier or better... it is simply because they see what they understand as good and beautiful and they want to be part of it.

Again, consider a beautiful scene, perhaps a sandy isolated beach or a far reaching field at the base of a mountain. These are typically things that stir in us a desire to participate. We don't want to put the sand in a bottle and think that we've taken what is beautiful for ourselves. We want to lay in it. We want to dig our toes in and feel the warm sand on top and the cooler sand below. We want to lay in that field and smell the flowers and hear the bees and feel the tickle of the tall grass. We want to accept the beauty around us into our hearts and into our memories. Certainly, we may want to try to take a souvenir with us, but we understand that to be a tangible memory of a beautiful experience, or the experience of the beautiful, rather than the containment of the beauty itself.

So we are dealing with a concept that requires our physical presence and the presence of something else which draws us, but also with the reality of things which in and of themselves are good, and possess a truth and therefore a beauty which we desire to be a part of and to know in more depth. This is ultimately the beauty we encounter in other people. When we come to know and love our family, friends and spouses, it is because we have first seen or experienced some amount of the beauty proper to the person, and have therefore been drawn more deeply into knowing the truth of their personal goodness. It is very hard to be a friend to someone who you cannot find this experience of the good in. It is hard not to be a friend to someone whose beauty profoundly moves you.

There is so much more to say about this, so perhaps I will attempt a bit of a series on the concept. For now, let us consider what it means to encounter the beauty of God. Is the love of our parents something we know as beautiful? What about the common prayer of the Church? Perhaps the family in their community? Are we left dumbstruck by the Eucharist? Do we sense the sacramentality of the world around us in its very nature as beautiful? Even driving through a busy city where there is far more concrete than there is grass, am I not still caught up in gratitude and longing when I see a sunset or a storm roll in? What does it even mean for man to yearn to be with the beautiful?

Let us consider St. Augustine's beautiful quote:
"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace."

Let Us Pray

I am such a fan of many prayers, and some are listed on this blog.
I came across this novena and couldn't help but share it! Our Lady of Czestochowa is a wonderful intercessor and a beautiful image of the love and suffering of Our Lady which we should all share in.

http://maryshelper.tripod.com/ourladyofczestochowanovena/

Sweetest Mother, draw us ever closer to your Son, who is Perfect Love. Amen.

He is Faithful

If we only knew the gift it was to be made from dust! What joy it is, to receive everything as gift! We have only but to accept, to say "yes", to be thankful, and we are caught up in mercy, love and peace. Our joy should never be stemmed, for we have deserved nothing and have been given everything; no, we have deserved death and have been given life.

Poetic Last Days, January

I deeply apologize that "Poetic Last Days" was skipped in the month of December, and that January's is a day late.

I have to admit, this has a melody to it (aka, it's more song lyrics than a poem), but since you are not able to hear the music, I hope the reading of it will still convey some of the feeling behind the idea. Happy February everyone!


Undone
And yet
More than ever
Alive

Broken
But finding
New life
Arising

Lost
And alone
Unsure where
To go

Lifting
Hands
Waiting for
Something

Someone
To stand
And hold
Me

Ready
To take
The leap
Unafraid

Stir up in us
Lord the fire
To blaze when all is dark

Stir up in us
Lord the joy
To sing when we are lost

Stir up in us
Lord the hope
To never be afraid

Stir up in us
Lord the faith
And we shall be saved

By your hands
By your mercy
By your grace
By your love
Falling in this place
Filling up this place
Moving in this place
Taking all the space
With you

Ready
For new
Trials
Coming

No doubt
Climbs
Uphill
Are coming

Strengthen
Drooping hands
And weak
Knees

Shake off
Bonds
Of lies
And sin

Break down
Walls
Deep
Within

Open doors
Let in
Light
Anew

Flood within us Lord
Your mercy
Take us up into
Your glory
We'll carry the world
With us
Into your peace

Stir up in us
Lord the fire
To blaze when all is dark

Stir up in us
Lord the joy
To sing when we are lost

Stir up in us
Lord the hope
To never be afraid

Stir up in us
Lord the faith
And we shall be saved

By your hands
By your mercy
By your grace
By your love
Falling in this place
Filling up this place
Moving in this place
Taking all the space
With you

What else
Can we owe
Than life
Unhindered

Given over
Unto
Your
Wonder

Surrendered
And free
We
Come
Unto Thee

I'm a Survivor

So maybe Destiny's Child is a little corny, but you'll have to humor me here.
The song "I'm a Survivor" came into my head today, and it certainly lifted my spirits. If you have been feeling in any way exhausted, used, abused, abandoned, worn out, ignored, unappreciated, etc... you may want to think about what it means to say you will survive, that you will fight, that you will work harder.

My friends, life is a struggle. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or has been hidden away with fairies or something. But I would argue that the reason I acknowledge it as such is probably not the same reason that is generally considered. Not to cut out the obvious fact of the struggle to survive and all of its sharp teeth, but more importantly it is the struggle to be whole, to be pure, to be good, that is the true task at hand.

There is much to consider about these terms, even just about the ideals. To be good, what is that?

Aristotle would tell us that as humans, we naturally seek the good that we see for ourselves. St. Thomas Aquinas would add that this natural good is our ultimate fulfillment in God, who is our source and end. Many various wise people (who I am not at liberty to cite here, being that my memory is not so strong) have expounded on these points and discussed (at ridiculously great lengths) what it means for man to desire his good, and how man can know what his good is, and if there is a universal good for all men or if each person's good is specific to his own being.

Today is not the day for philosophy (we started with Destiny's Child) so I will skip over those many arguments and discussions. Those are certainly questions worth mulling over, so take time to consider them. The Church would tell us that our purpose in existing is to "know love and serve" God (timeout to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1: "God, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life...God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life"). So if our end is to know our Creator, that means a lot about our everyday. The beautiful thing here (though there are many) is that our Creator (whom we are to come to know) is a loving one.  He certainly is beyond and above our littleness, and yet he stooped to come amoung us and rescue us from our brokenness. Not only that, but he left us with a rather useful and sound map and compass (the Church) to lead us ever-more away from the brokenness and into his marvelous light.

So our good is to be fulfilled, to become who and what we were meant to be, to discover the glory that dwells within ourselves that we may have been unaware of. For us to pursue this, we need the tools given to us by the Church. We need the Sacraments. We need Baptism to irradicate the stain of original sin from our souls. We need the Eucharist to purify and sustain us, to transform us, that we would be made "holy by the power of your Spirit" and that our humanity may paritcipate in the glory of the Word made flesh. We need Confirmation, that our lives will be under the counsel and love and guidance of the Holy Spirit. We need daily prayer and communal prayer to lift us up beyond the darkness of this world. We need Confession that we can be healed of our many sins and discover the mercy and grace that God so abundantly lavishes on his children when they ask.

To learn habits of good, to develop virtues in place of vice - this is the ever-present task. Every action and thought and word we participate in will lead us further down the path of wholeness or further down the path of division. We are either fulfilling some potential for good in us or rejecting some potential for good in us. Certainly there are many things which in and of themselves are rather neutral (picking up the phone, eating an apple, smelling some cookies, going to the bathroom...) but when one begins to really examine this life, everything truly does take on some level of meaning in the greater picture. The battle is a life-long struggle. Every smaller battle trains us and strengthens us so that the greater challenges are not impossible to face. If I eat my apple and I'm enjoying it and I am grateful for its existence and then for its new existence in my stomach, I am certainly appreciating the gifts of one who loves me (God) and I am a happier person because I have received that which I did not deserve. Meanwhile, if I am eating out of functionality, or even bitterness because I would rather eat a cookie but I'm dieting, I am not finding praise or worship or gratitude in my heart but self-righteousness and maybe pride. Now certainly we can't go crazy being scrupulous about every little detail, but the idea is important because it does imply that we acknowledge God as Lord of our entire lives and our whole selves and not just a God who we visit on Sundays or think of occassionally.

For our persons to every be united as we are meant to be, to really understand our souls and bodies as a whole, as the true one being that each individual is, than we need to recognize both the divisive effects of sin on our lives and the unitive effects of virtue and grace on our lives. They stand in stark contrast...to discover oneself in an even deeper way it is required that we live (to our best ability, which can be very great with the aid of grace) in harmony with God's laws, and the natural law, which is given by God. We must understand that we are more free and more able to be who we are called to be when we not only obey the laws given to us but love them. They bring peace. They stir up a sense of self that is profound. They allow us to know our hearts, to see our inner selves, and yet to love and respect our bodies and how all of our person is intrinsically and intimately united. Just in the same way, every sin taps a wedge into the bedrock of our person. Every sin, whether purposeful or omission, leads us out of love and into darkness. Every minute spent thinking over the offenses of another is a minute not spent loving in this world. Where we might have forgiven and found healing, we are wasting ourselves on bitterness or malice. There are so many things that can lead to our bedrock breaking into pieces!

Sexual sins, or sins with our bodies, are perhaps the most dangerous. If we are willing to treat our very selves as a tool or function for accomplishing some good feeling or "act of freedom" or proof of our self-control or self-possession, what we are truly doing is proving how lost and blind we have become. No one who loves himself would harm himself. No one who is proud (in the good sense) would abuse himself. No one should seek what they think is "good" when it isn't good for them! But how often we are subject to that! How often we think that if we can only impress some person, we will have a better life. And so we wear things we would not normally wear, or say things we would not normally say. Or how often do we believe that the person we are is simply not good enough for whatever we secretly yearn for in the depths of our hearts, and so we settle for far lesser dreams and far more tragic treatment because we have forgotten who we are and who we were made to be. Just for the record, God never ceases to call us to be the beautiful and resplendent children he has made us. Never. We can spit in his face and the next moment he is still holding his arms out. Certainly it takes time and great effort (and most of all, real humility) for us to be reconciled if we have developed habits of sin that control our lives, but we are never outside of his mercy and love. Never!

St. Claude de Colombiere wrote this most beautiful prayer:
"Lord, I am in this world to show Your mercy to others.
Other people will glofiry You by making visible the power of Your grace by their fidelity and constancy to You.
For my part I will glorify You by making known how good You are to sinners,
that Your mercy is boundless and that no sinner no matter how great his offences should have reason to despair of pardon.
If I have grieviously offended You, My Redeemer, let me not offend You even more by thinking that You are not kind enough to pardon Me.
Amen."

That is something to chew on.

So this is our hope and our task - to desire the good (which is our being-in-love with the One who has first loved us!!!) and to pursue it with all of our selves, even in the tiniest of ways, every day, come what may. If we can strive to avoid sin, and beg for the grace to avoid it even more, and beg for the grace to be sorry when we do sin and for the grace to recognize the things which lead us to sin or our inclinations to sin, we will slowly begin to weed out those things that so deeply wound us and allow ourselves to begin the weight lifting and strength training that we need for this war!

(If you would like to read more on the Church's teaching on the beauty and truth of the gift man has been given in sexual love and its right-ordering, I highly suggest reading Humanae Vitae http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html and The Theology of the Body http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2tbind.htm.)


Say it with me now,
"I'm a survivor
I'm not gonna give up
I'm not gon' stop
I'm gonna work harder..."

Yeah... :)

Mercy.

Too many thoughts have been dancing through (and colliding within) my mind, and at this point its fair to say the pinball machine is ready to break down.

My friends, mercy. Mercy, mercy, mercy! Divine mercy, real mercy, living and generous, form-taking mercy. Mercy alive and breathing. Mercy as a child. Mercy as a man. Mercy on a cross. Mercy as King.

I was reflecting on what true charity is. On the mountain that we all have to ascend to reach that unbelievable challenge uttered by Christ, "Be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect." That journey is uphill. That journey is full of sharp rocks and steep ascents. That journey is also filled with beautiful landscapes and invigorating experiences! Oh! The colors. The breaths of air that seem to have been saved for your lungs alone. The intoxicating scents of mountain air that teach you about a way of living that our little world has forgotten. You pant for more. Nothing ever tastes as sweet again. You are lost to it. These are woods you will happily wander into, map left behind, rejoicing at the idea of being lost. This is a trail your feet know without being told. This is a way that is clearly marked, simply by the desire in your heart. Follow the love inside of you! Run when you cannot bear to walk, and you will gain ground. Sing when you are stirred within, laugh at everything. Smile because it is too ridiculous not to.

Do not allow yourself to get over it. Never get over it. There is never room enough in you to exhaust all that you can take it! There will always be more beauties, more glories! Hans Urs von Balthasar says that glory is the fullness of beauty revealed. That means that glory is what you experience when your heart is too captivated to do anything else but adore what you have been captured by. And the mountain, the ascent to charity... it captivates. Not only the mountain, but the journey itself. Every step! Every breath. Every stone that digs into our feet. Every inch of dirt we move through. Every drop of rain or dancing stream or fierce wind or starry night or great oak. Not just these things in and of themselves, but our participation in them. Our encounter with them. Our harmonies to their symphonies. It is the moments of "them being" and "us coming to them" and "together, it being better." And forgive me for all the mountain imagery because this is just as applicable to the eyes of one meeting the eyes of another, or a still moment shared between old friends, or the explosion of a family reunited with one another (at least, that's the caliber of sound when my family is together), or the smile of teammates when the goal has been accomplished or the pride in a professor's eyes at the student who has excelled. All of this is what is part of our climb into the heights and depths of charity.

Today at mass the priest said, "Humility is not putting yourself down or thinking less of yourself, it is simply the truth." This is the epitome of true charity - mercy. The truth is our littleness, and the truth is also God's benevolence. The truth is our pitiful infidelity and the truth is his UNFAILING CONSTANCY. He is always there. Always. Never leaves us. Never gives up. Never ceases to love. Gosh! Do we have ANY idea of what the words "never" and "always" really mean? How could we? Look at our society, at our culture, at our world! Everything is so quick, so instantaneous, and sadly, so inconsistent. If there is any quality that is most endearing and most healing to me in the merciful love of God it is certainly his perfection made manifest in his unstobbable and eternal and infinite and constant being. Never means, never. There is simply no time, no space and no place that you could be that he will not already be there and will not follow you to. Just waiting to pick you up again, waiting carry you back home. "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep" (Lk. 15:4-6). And this is Mercy.

Who among us can turn to our brother after he has insulted us and genuinely love him, forgive him, even get up and make him something to eat because he is hungry? Who among us wouldn't consider this complete foolishness!? He didn't even apologize! He might do it again! Will he learn nothing? Are we to be so poorly treated? Oh, but was this not exactly the life of our Lord? Is this not the entire love story of the Scriptures, of the Hebrew people and God, of the Bride (the Church) and the Bridegroom? When have we ever given him true cause to lavish the grace upon us that he does? The justification that we could never earn for ourselves has been generously supplied by the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God. This is mercy. The truth is mercy. Humility is acknowledging the truth of the mercy of God.

Everything is mercy. The grace to have our hearts stirred by the beauty of the ascent to charity throughout our lives, even the sorrows and the darknesses and the freezing cold nights... that is mercy! The grace to see, that is mercy. Just to open our eyes is mercy; to have ears to hear, that too is mercy. He is embodied Mercy. Love made flesh is mercy. The Eucharist is Mercy.

This is a Great Mystery

I'm going to be honest here (not that I am ever not "pointedly honest" with this blog) -
this semester has been, without a doubt, my least productive. I have managed to work 20 hours nearly every week, write and present the "God's Vision of Love" talk series and organize and fundraise for a mission to Haiti this December... but despite my deep gratitude to the Lord for all of these good works, the truth is that I have certainly slacked on my actual school work, which really should be my priority.

So, my firm resolve is to dive back into my wonderfully nerdy self as soon as is physically possible (and that is probably not until Christmas break). Until then, seeing as how I am already behind in all of my reading, I might as well go ahead a write a blog post :)

I wanted to talk about touch.

Touch, I feel (haha), is one of the more neglected senses.
Certainly not in all areas of life, but I'm speaking in a universal way. Sight is often harped on, or spoken highly of, or at least observed, whether it is the way we look at some one, or the way we are perceived, or more obviously the things to be observed such as color and shape. Our ability to hear is possibly even more practiced (if your ipod isn't playing, music from the computer will be, let's not deny it.) Smell... well, ok, smell gets the shaft. Taste is certainly appreciated in our culture, I don't think that needs explanation (although many settle for tastes that are mediocre).
But touch.

Much of my thought is coming from all that has been discussed on this blog from the "Adequate Anthropology" series and the "God's Vision of Love" series, and those points are basically drawing on John Paul II's understanding of anthropology, of the human person. This anthropology is necessarily a theological one. You cannot have the gift without the giver.

But before Christ, the encounter with the Lord was very typically a spiritual one only. Of course, the prophets and those who were chosen to establish covenants with the Lord such as Abraham and David certainly encountered him while being in-body, or embodied, and so they heard him with their ears even if he was not physically before them (and I am not going to go further into that although there is much to be thought about). But with Christ came an entirely new revelation of God, and entirely new encounter...most importantly, an entirely new meeting place.

Christ is the place for encounter God, for seeing him face to face. And this is in a body, through a body. In the spiritual sense, this Body is the Church. In a physical sense, this Body is the Eucharist, given as the source and summit of the very life of the Church. But this Body was also a man who walked this earth for thirty-three years and spoke to people, was heard by people, was seen and was touched.
(Maybe you had forgotten I was writing about touch... I almost did.)

No, Christ brings this element of God's love to us in a new and dynamic way that we could not have comprehended before. The imagery of nuptiality that St. Paul uses to draw the analogy of God's love for man and the love between a husband and wife summarizes this. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word..." (Eph. 5:25-26, emphasis added). And, "Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord" (Eph. 5:22, emphasis added). He says, "This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church" (Eph. 5:32).

Again, books have already been written on this mystery (many beautiful ones, by people much wiser and more learned than myself) and my point is not to enter into them here. Rather, I want us to reflect on the beauty and mystery of touch.

Touch is an encounter. It occurs at a place, on a body, that a person experiences. Whether it is a hand on your shoulder to encourage you before you face a crowd, or a quick hug to say goodbye, or a sure kiss from the one you love, touch says something, it signifies something. If nothing else, it is a more comforting promise of the meaning revealed in the touch, a deeper communication of what was meant to be made known. I can smile at you and you will understand my pleasure, but I can hug you and leave no doubt. The intensity behind our touch, positive as well as negative, communicates a level of our whole self that is embedded in the action.

To be perhaps less-than-tactful, if I have someone shake my hand at the sign of peace during mass who barely wraps their fingers around my hand and leaves enough space for all those germs that are inevitably jumping from my palm to theirs... well, let's be honest here, I don't feel like the touch they gave truly signified much wishing-of-peace to me. And I feel even less that someone wanted me to know the Lord's peace if I just get the head-nod of acknowledgement. Does this make the point? The firm grip of someone who says, "Peace be with you," or, "Christ's Peace," leaves me assured that they truly desire me to know that peace.

Perhaps a different analogy? When you meet someone you haven't seen for many months (or years) and embrace as if old friends, but you are given the "burp-the-baby" pat on the back rather than a friendly embrace... what is the encounter? One that communicates a less-than-comfortable knowledge of the other person. It says that there is not the same understanding that once existed. And if you were hugging someone you just met for the first time that day, you probably wouldn't be embracing them as you would a friend of five or ten years.

Interestingly enough, a point that is made by Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, albeit indirectly, and also a point that is then taken up by John Paul II in The Theology of the Body, this time directly, is the way that condoms and contraception also make a drastic change to the communication behind a touch. In the most intimate of human touch, within the bond of sexual union, the communication of the full love and desire of both lovers for one another is necessary and apparent. Much like the "not-quite-peace" or the "not-sure-hug," contraception is the barrier between the two that signifies a "not-quite-total-love." Again, this is not the point of this post so we'll have to return to this later, but I wanted to make that analogy. Touch, what you say through it and signify with it, means something!

Christ comes to us in the Eucharist as his very body. He allows us to approach him and touch him and to receive him into us. I think it is fair to say that if the source and summit of our faith revolves around the body of God, touch matters.

We therefore have a responsibility as people of faith to consider more deeply the touch we give and receive, and to recognize what we mean and signify with our actions, in hopes that we will come to better reflect the "glory of God [that] is man fully alive" (St. Irenaeus).

Poetic Last Days, November

Out he trod, in misty vale

Cold wind following at his tail

Damp his feet and slick his blade

Firm his steps, despite the rain

Set his jaw, pursed his mouth

Purpose written without doubt

His steed unwavering in the gloom

His latern lit, though high noon

Raindrops coursing over his mail

Water clinging in his hair

Blood coursing through his veins

Demanding he not be afraid

The path unplotable in the muck

The earth as if to swallow him up

The forest too dense to go on his way

The horse trembling now, unwilling to stay

On foot carries on our brave lad

Unabashed at the sound of one so sad

The call of a maid fair and lost

Sinking within an undying frost

Her name he knows, more sure than his own

Her face his only guide to home

His heart beating only those syllables now

Her name, the drum of his pulse so loud

What monster awaits his sweet brow

What creature ready to welcome him down

What mystery has stolen his love away

What strength hath a man to ner be slayed

From within the fight begins

First of doubt and then lies dim

Hope the first to be laid to rest

Then to follow, all his best

The beast it seems to be his mind

Crying falsehoods all the time

Whispering darkness that slips on by

The sentinel at his heart's supply

Yet, love be stronger than death

If love be true lies cannot pass

His light gone out but his heart still sure

Each footstep nearer his lady pure

Abandoned is his sword that bled

The villians of the past be dead

None but her face the star he sees

Whispers try but cannot reach

The barrier of love, the moat of truth

Too high, too deep, too bright to lose

No inner darkness can succeed

In bringing his courage to its knees

For he knows, even should she prefer to stay

Out in the cold on this highland day

And should his love be all denied

Still, no man is man who hath not tried

His love be unable to stand still

His heart too full to stop or kill

Those feet march on, though the eyes barely see

The star of her face guides his way clearly

Her voice drawing nearer, the call more strong

He pauses in awe as he recognizes their song

Sad but sure the melody she sings

Awaiting the one it is sure to bring

Mired, it seems she's sunk in the mud

Frost round the edges and dirt and scum

Her fair locks matted and knotted

Her beautiful face darkened and clouted

The fiend! His rage boiling within

A frenzy of wrath nearly overtook him

But every moment she sunk further still

To hunt him now would secure her ill

Taking deep breaths and willing only she

Fastening a rope and taking a knee

Deep into the mire he waded with care

Nearly blind in the dense foggy air

Her song never fading, rather now stronger

Her tears tracing lines making clear her hunger

Her hands trapt too deep to ever reach out

Only her voice left to fight off the doubt

But behold, there, her lover! Could this be?

His warm breath embraced her 'fore she could see

Arms like the tree roots holding her feet

Embraced her small body and lifted her free

Her hands numb and broken, unable to hold

Yet her face buried deep in his soft cloak folds

'Fore even a step could be made for the land

His lips gently kiss her poor little hands

Their eyes finally meet in solitary light

She knows of his struggle, she sees all the fight

He reads in her face all the trust and the hope

He knows she ner waivered, he knows that she knows

Curled in his arms like a babe in the night

He carried her safely through that forest of fright

No monster nor sprite's arrow could pierce

The light of their love a barrier too fierce

His path he now sees as if never before

His steps unfaltering, his direction sure

Her heartbeat peaceful as she gently sleeps

Love has rescued her, he is all that she needs.

God's Vision of Love VI, Living in Freedom

Last part of the four-part series covering some of the major themes of the Theology of the Body by Pope John Paul II. Again, please see the previous presentations for a full context of this post. All of the information is drawn from the Theology of the Body, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Scripture (RSV) and other Church documents.

Recap: Context from the past three weeks –
o Original states of innocence, solitude, unity and nakedness, how God sees us and invites us into a relationship/knows us personally
o Being created in the Image of the Son means this new covenant, a new call to us
o Christ reveals to us what true freedom is, Christ reveals to us our gifted-nature, how God is Father and we receive all from him
o Christ gives us the Beatitudes as guides for how to participate in this new life, specifically purity of heart that enables us to understand the interior gaze of man and what it is meant to be between man and woman
o To return to our original innocence and purity but in a “new way” in light of Christ, we must learn to practice virtues and build habits of virtue (these are our remedies for concupiscence and sin)
o We want to learn to know ourselves and one another in the same authentic freedom and gift that Christ reveals to us
o The interior gaze and the language of the body are tied together, as we see how what we do and say expresses the inner parts of our hearts and what we desire and will are made real in our actions – the embodied soul – is understood here
o Christ’s whole life is a testament of love, laying down of his body and soul for the sake of the “other,” for his bride the Church and for each of us – this is authentic freedom and the nature of “gift” – being for another.
o Virginity or continence for the Kingdom is a revelation for us of the very special nature of God’s invitation to be in this personal relationship – a way of witnessing to us of what it will be like to be wholly God’s, in heaven, to know him fully
o Today we want to talk about marriage, family and the Church

"Living in Freedom"

Ephesians 5:21-33

o This call is very specific to real life and has practical applications and implications for us no matter what our state of life. The context Paul gives us in Ephesians is the perfect analogy that sheds light on all that Christ reveals to us about the truth and dignity of our personhood and especially our sexuality.


Sacrament

 o A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality – the body itself is a sacrament (small “s”) for it reveals the interior truth of the whole person, as we have discussed

 o The Sacrament in the Church (big “S”) is a sign of grace, efficacious grace, transforming grace. They truly conform us more into the image of Christ and are specific gifts for our path to salvation

 o As Gaudium et Spes (joy and hope) says, not only does Christ reveal “man” to himself, what we are called to be, our most perfect hope and fulfillment, but in that he makes clear his supreme vocation (this life of holiness)


o We are learning about the eternal plan of man’s salvation in Jesus, from our Creation in His image to our final hope through his passion, death and resurrection. We are invited into his Body, as members of the Church. (This is the historical context of the whole mystery of the plan of salvation initiated in our creation in Christ and revealed in the Incarnation)


o What St. Paul says in Ephesians and John Paul wants to emphasize is that the mystery of Christ realized in the Church is the expression of the divine plan for man’s salvation, and that the Christian vocation is thus a life baptized and part of this Church


o Our humanity, our anthropology (and therefore, our sexuality) will only be brought to fulfillment in this context

o Remember at the beginning we said this is theology/anthropology/theology of the body – this is the context – Christ, and the Church.


o The two great goods of human sexuality expressed in its proper context are fidelity and fruitfulness or fecundity. The gift of self to another in sexual or conjugal union is meant to be free, total and fruitful. The beauty of such total trust, vulnerability and commitment is vital. The grace of the sacrament supports the husband and wife in their promise for fidelity throughout their lives and for the total love for the other, especially as it bears fruit in the gift of a new life.

Husband and Wife

o Proper context for man and woman bound together in love (and sexual union) is a lifelong commitment before God in the Church in the Sacrament of matrimony


o It is therefore their common relation with Christ that should unite them


o We are first and foremost brothers and sisters, adopted children of God, and in light of this we approach a holy love for one another knowing our respective value and dignity comes from God as a gift and that we belong to God first and foremost


o St. Paul speaks about subordination to one another – this is in love of Christ – just as virginity makes sense for the Kingdom, so mutual sacrifice, service and surrender to one another makes sense only in the context of Christ. It is a pious and holy call, to live a life of service, love and fidelity.


o We need to draw our energy, mercy and love from the only inexhaustible source of love, God himself. Our love for one another must be fed from his eternal and perfect love poured out into our hearts. Only then can we see one another with a purity and holy interior gaze, and love authentically. The efficacious graces of the Sacraments fundamentally make this possible, both the grace of the Sacrament of Marriage and then the continual graces of Eucharist and Confession.


o Marriage is this vocation for Christians to holiness directly as it corresponds to Christ’s love for the Church, the Bridegroom with his Bride, who laid down his life for her. St. Paul says that husbands are to love their wives even as Christ loved the Church, and that wives are to be subordinate as the Church is to Christ. It is the entrustment of the whole self to God in the context of the full, free and total giving of oneself over to the other in marriage.


o Reveals that the deepest essence of marriage emerges from the mystery of God’s eternal love for mankind, from the salvific mystery of Christ’s spousal love for the Church!!!


o Tobit 8:4-9


o The purposeful fruitfulness of marriage, the gift of self being so total that it brings about another total gift, a new human life, is also founded in this mystery, for as Christ is head of the body, so the body (the Church) bears fruit of his love in the salvation of souls won by his sacrifice on the cross.


o The spousal meaning of the body is inscribed in our sexuality, in manhood and womanhood, masculinity and femininity, the beautiful unity formed through two mutual self-gifts, receiving the other person in love.


o The unity of Adam and Eve at the very beginning of our history where “this one is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” is now made more clear in the context of the unity of Christ and the Church – esp. in light of the Eucharist.


o The new creation that is made in the sacrament of marriage for man and woman is indissoluble precisely in this unity and therefore the covenant they enter into is both a grace and an ethos, a directive for a holy life.


o St. John Chrysostom – CCC 2365 - St. John Chrysostom suggests that young husbands should say to their wives: I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being separated in the life reserved for us. . . . I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.


Fatherhood and Motherhood

o Fatherhood and Motherhood are also inscribed into the person and into our bodies in our masculinity and femininity, within the spousal meaning of the body. Man and woman assist one another in becoming more fully themselves in seeing the other in light of fatherhood and motherhood, in willing the other to be in some way even more alive in the gift of a child. There is a fulfillment of what it means to be a man and to be a woman in being a father and mother.


o Masculinity has within its nature the gift that, imaged after Christ, is an initiator and protector, the Bridegroom who seeks to see his Bride pure and holy. Femininity has within its nature the gift, imaged after Christ’s body, seen in the Church, of receiving the goodness and love of the Bridegroom and welcoming his assistance is her holiness even as she is the one for whom he will lay down his life. It is a beautiful interplay of giving and receiving, and together they form an unity that is the foundation for new life to come forth and thrive within.


Family

o Therefore, the family can never be removed from the Church, and should always be intimately connected with her, esp. in the Sacramental life.


o The goal of Christ’s love for the Church is her sanctification – so the goal is for the family, for the mutual love of husband and wife and thus for their children too (which begins with Baptism and continues throughout life formed in Christ)


o Husband and wife are called to live in a holy unity of love, and therefore to raise their children with this understanding. As St. Paul directs us, husband and wife are to love one another as their own body, as Christ loves the Church, and to therefore seek the highest good for the other person and aid them on their journey to heaven. John Paul says, “The bridegroom (meaning Christ) examines his bride (Church) attentively, as though in a creative loving restlessness, whether he will find the good and the beauty he desires in her and for her.” This kind of moral and holy scrutiny needs to be present in our family life!


o Prayer must permeate the life of man and woman in the Sacrament of Marriage and their families. The Christian life is one of constant communication, constant dialogue with the Father, Son and Spirit, seeking to be made anew in the image of perfect love.


o Prayer together as a family is vital. Reading from Scripture, reading from the Catechism, reflecting on the teachings of the Church especially in the encyclicals and writings of recent Church history, as well as the many various devotions such as the Rosary and novenas are essential. Cultural Challenges/Issues to Faceo Concupiscence unfortunately does not disappear with the Sacrament of marriage (nor with religious vows or Ordination) – therefore it is so vital for us to be sensitive to the temptations and trials we face and to rely on Christ in his mercy and frequent the sacraments of Eucharist and Confession, and to pray daily.


o As we have said, the prayer for purity of heart and chastity aids us in seeing ourselves and one another with God’s vision, and assists us in healing the wounds inflicted by our sins.


o Chastity is not only a virtue for religious or priests but for married couples as well, for there are times when it is good for couples to abstain and a life of prayer and sacraments deeply aids couples in understanding this and living it out.


o A life of prayer and “in the Holy Spirit” enables couples to best understand their temptations and when they are truly loving one another in purity and wholeness and when they are falling short of this goal.


o There are many temptations outside of the inner self that are presented in our culture, everything from magazine covers to casual sex in TV and movies to the common acceptance of pornography, masturbation, contraception, cheating, hook ups, even just immodest dress – the world is not friendly to our desire for holiness so it is important for us to continually pray and seek purity and truth so that we do not fall into these sins, and if we do, to seek the healing and grace of confession.


o We want to always “speak the truth” with our bodies – concerning our own dignity, the dignity of another

* So once again, the entire context from beginning to end is that God has created us His Image, and we are invited into this personal relationship, the interior life, into a love and service of the Holy Trinity. In Christ we have the perfect Image of our humanity-as-holy. Without sin, He is perfect beyond our capabilities. But by the efficacious grace of the Sacraments of the Church and by his continual Mercy and Love, we are given the assistance to be transformed and "divinized" and to learn to live virtues of purity and chastity. We have a hope that cannot be disappointed, because of the promise of the eternally faithful God, who is all Truth and Love. We strive to deepen our understanding of the goodness that God has given us, the depth and breadth of his Gift, and we pray daily to allow this knowledge to fill us and transform our lives.

Once again, let us end with Guadiem et Spes,
“The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.” – G et S, 22

God's Vision of Love III, Purity of Heart

This was the third part of the lecture series. Of course, things are missing from what was presented, including some visuals that I drew to help make things more clear. Again, I do not have time to put this into paragraph format, so you'll have to make due with the bullets. Also, please see God's Vision of Love 1 and 2 for the complete context of these talks.

"Purity of Heart"

The Beatitudeso Matthew 5:1-17 (Read)


o Christ Fulfills the law by revealing True Love – Remember at the beginning of this class as we spoke about the beautiful original state of man and God’s intention in creating him, the “originals” before the fall? We also said that Christ, being the apex of history, the climax of the love story between God and mankind, the ultimate covenant where original sin and death are finally destroyed, brings something new. When we live the holy life we are invited to by Christ there is in some sense a return to that original state, but there is something even more dynamic occurring. This is what we hear in the Beatitudes. This is exactly what Jesus means when he says he “fulfills” the law. He has brought love, in all of its power and glory, into the law. Now mercy and compassion and love in its passion are the crowning jewels of a holy life.


o Each of the Beatitudes is a necessary guide, a light for us as Christians to find our way on the path to holiness – but we want to focus in a special way on “blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.”


Readjusting our Glasses – the Interior Gaze


o Genesis 3:1-10 (Read)


o If we go back to the first class once more and remember the beauty of original innocence and nakedness, what was the dramatic difference between Adam and Eve’s knowledge of one another and their knowledge after the first sin? It is the event of concupiscence, the staining of their vision by sin with lust and selfishness.


o We all understand that sin has a hold on us personally and as a whole in society. It is especially clear that concupiscence strangles the life out of human sexuality, as tv/movies/music, etc… reveal to us all the time. People are not integrated wholes, but pretty faces or toned bodies or skimpy clothes or only certain parts of the body…this is accepted and even expected.


o We may also be sensitive to shame. Shame is our natural response to the awareness of the effects of concupiscence on human sexuality. Even in Genesis, immediately after Adam and Eve’s “eyes are opened” and they understand their nakedness in the darkened state of sin, they cover themselves and hid themselves precisely because of this nakedness.


o There is much going on here, to say that “there eyes were opened” and that they understood that they were naked – where before they could freely look at one another in their naked bodies and see an integrated person, the whole other person, in no way without fear or any lust (as we said with original nakedness and innocence), now they were unable to see one another in this pure light, and were looking with eyes of sinful man rather than with the sight of God.


o So when Jesus says so specifically that the “pure of heart” will “see God,” the parallel seems easy to understand. Of course, this is just one context of Christ’s words, but there is an invitation here for us to seek to be “pure of heart” so that our vision will be cleansed and so that we can see with God’s vision, with his love.


o The Pope refers to the “interior gaze” of man, a sense in which Adam and Eve are able to see into one another, to know the person in the naked body as male and female, but as the whole person, with purity and love. Christ points us back to this peaceful gaze and also points us to how we learn to love and see one another in this holy light once more. The Beatitudes teach us to live in virtue, and to allow this virtue to build into our habitual way of life, so that we can be truly “pure of heart.”


Virtues – Purity, Chastity


o This call is very specific to real life and has practical applications and implications for us no matter what our state of life.


o As we have said, Christ calls us specifically to look at our lives honestly before God. We must consistently pray for the grace to be pure of heart. Purity of heart will always lead to a purity of the body. And we need to pray for the virtue of chastity, that we will also aid our interior purity through our physical modesty and holiness. We need to frequent the sacraments, especially Reconciliation, and we need to honestly examine our consciences to be aware of the ways we do lust after or degrade others or fail to see them in truth and love.


o These virtues act as a healing for our concupiscence…for every weakness and temptation we endure in purity of heart and body, we regain and strengthen our defenses by praying for and practicing chastity and purity.


Continence for the Kingdom


o We will talk in detail next week about the marriage, and so today I want to say a few things about virginity and consecration of self for the Kingdom, for Christ.


o There are so many things that could be said and feel free to ask questions if I don’t cover something, but I think there are two vital things to be pointed out concerning this call.


o One – Consecration of yourself through priesthood, religious or consecrated life, and therefore, a life of celibacy/virginity, is for the Kingdom. It is of the utmost importance that this end is understood. We’ll talk more about this is a moment.


o Second – This call to celibacy does not negate or exist in competition with the good of marriage – in fact, it sheds light on the good present in marriage while at the same time being its own good.


o St. Paul tells us that the life of virginity is the highest good for us to aspire to here on earth, but that there are many qualifications and that this does not injure marriage.


o It is such a good because-
a.) You are living in your physical body now what you will one day life in heaven – a life wholly and totally devoted to the worship of God. You are making present for others the hope and reality of Christ’s promise for all who believe, that in the Beatific Vision there will be a unique fulfillment of the person, a deep and perfect understanding of self-in-relation-to-God. We can only imagine what such a union will be like in its glory, but priests and religious witness to us each day of this hope that we should all share in.


b.) Part of the power of such a witness is the sacrifice of the world for the Kingdom – the “better life” – this means that what is being sacrificed is a good, because it isn’t a sacrifice if there is no effort in letting go. So very strongly the vocation to celibacy for the Kingdom at the same time affirms the beauty and good of marriage as it is the good that must be sacrificed.


c.) Being for the Kingdom means not only this witness of our hope of the future, but also accepting that there is a different form of Motherhood and Fatherhood (spiritual) brought to anyone who is called to be a “Bride of Christ” or to be in the image of the “Bridegroom for the Church.” Priests become “fathers” for us all – there is a specific spiritual fatherhood that is part of the grace and charism of the Sacrament of Holy Orders just as there is a special grace of for men who are physical fathers in the Sacrament of Marriage. Religious sisters are examples of the wise virgins who are awaiting the only true bridegroom, Christ, and who aid the lay faithful in preparing themselves for his coming in their witness and their prayers for us all.


d.) Lastly, it is important to note that St. Paul, and the Church, teach us that this is a specific call and a specific grace to live in celibacy for the Kingdom. It is a mystery for all of us that each Christian has a call to a life of holiness that is specific to their unique person, but that is another gift of God. Some are called to sanctify a mini-church, a family, through husband and wife and their children, and others are called to work for the sanctity of the greater Church, for all of us as brothers and sisters in Christ.


Modesty and Purity


o It is easy to understand how what we have said about Christ’s invitation to us and challenge to us to be “pure of heart” so that we can one day “see God” and also gain the purity of heart and sight now to see one another with a holy interior gaze, also leads to our living out a similar chastity and continence for the Kingdom depending on our state in life


o Even though we may not be a religious, consecrated or a priest, all of the lay faithful share in the invitation to be examples in our world of the beauty of living for the Kingdom as much as possible.


o The most specific way this applies to our conversation is modesty in our dress and behavior, and purity in our physical actions (appropriate to our state in life.) If we are married this means being faithful to the vows we have made, faithful to our spouse, being open and honest with them, seeking to see and love them in wholeness and purity of vision. If we are single or dating this means dressing to reveal our true value and beauty, which would not be dressing to assist another in reducing us or failing to see us as a whole person. It would also mean not speaking, dancing, etc.. that would make it difficult for someone to love you in purity.
As always, we keep in mind that the entire context of Creation, Humanity and Salvation History, the whole story of love between God and man, is summed up in the life and Person of Christ, the Son of God. From Guadiem et Spes we read -
“The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.” – G et S, 22